Decision
by Andromeda of Othrys
Summary: Gellert Grindelwald is an old man, with a lot of memories and regrets he can not make peace with personally, being stuck in Nurmengard and all. What he can do, however, is try to gain some pardon - and since it involves Albus, sacrifice is not that hard.


**This short was written for the Slytherin house, Prompt being Gellert Grindelwald - 1,606 words**

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"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair… Honestly, Albus," Gellert Grindelwald snorted, closing the last of the books Garren had left him and stacking them neatly in the farthest corner of his cell. "Only _you_ could find a way to irritate me from beyond death."

His old friend must have developed a biting sense of humor somewhere between their last duel in Dresden and his recent death to send him a stack of _Muggle_ fairytales as the part of his will, with the story of Rapunzel highlighted in red ink. The girl, stuck inside a high tower? That impertinent little... He just had to rub it in.

The face of the British Minister of Magic - Rufus Scrimgeour, wasn't it? - when he delivered the books managed to mellow his annoyance, if only slightly. Morgana, his posture could not scream 'former Auror' louder than it did, and his face was near identical to the one lovely Seraphina Picquery wore about seventy years ago in New York subway system. That confusion, underlined with healthy amount of paranoia and shock…

The memories of that fatal year flooded his mind, the face of Newton Scamander at the forefront of them.

 _The boy, Newton Scamander, did not look like anyone special. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the 'beast' - oh, it was so exciting to play with Madam Picquery and the rest of MACUSA's perceptions, leading them in the completely wrong direction! - and the little note with Albus' name in Newton's file, he wouldn't have bothered with him. However, he was a convenient scapegoat, and Gellert had never been above using naive fools to cover up his own mistakes. It was what got him expelled from Durmstrang, after all - pinning the blame for one of his experiments on the wrong sort of target. One thing that little incident taught him, was to clean up his mess_ _ **thoroughly.**_ _Wait a moment… did the boy just say he managed to isolate Obscurus? Amazing! Not even he could do it!_

 _The power of Obscurus…_

The thought of that nearly-forgotten magical phenomena dragged him from one memory into another one.

" _This is Aberforth," Albus said, gesturing in his brother's direction. Aberforth grunted in greeting, not even looking at Gellert, completely distracted by showing something to the beautiful, if somewhat fragile-looking blonde girl. "And my sister, Ariana."_

 _At the sound of her name Ariana lifted her head, and Gellert nearly took a step back in shock. Something was wrong with Albus' sister, that much was obvious. No normal witch - or indeed, any woman Gellert ever ran across - had eyes so akin to the shattered glass. What in the world had happened to her?_

" _Pleasure to meet you," Gellert tried to regain balance and fell back on the old customs, bowing slightly to Ariana, plastering his polite smile on his lips._

 _The little girl's gaze darted from Albus' exuberant smile to Aberforth's furrowed brows, seeking approval. Albus nodded to her and Aberforth did not react, so she curtsied, head bowed._

" _Pleasure is all mine, Gellert Grindelwald," Ariana said, carefully enunciating his name, familiarizing herself with it._

" _Gellert please," Gellert gently corrected her. "Albus' family is practically my own."_

 _Aberforth snorted, but did not comment further, turning his back pointedly to Gellert. Albus frowned at Aberforth, and Ariana turned to Aberforth to listen, but not before looking into Gellert's eyes once more._

" _Let's go to my room," Albus invited him as he set off, forcing Gellert to lengthen his stride to catch up. Once settled in the room, wards on the door and the window that prevented spying, Gellert whirled on Albus._

" _What's wrong with your sister?"_

 _Albus' eyes darkened with sorrow and pain. "You noticed it?"_

 _Gellert huffed. "Anyone could tell, Albus. Her eyes are broken! What happened?"_

" _Muggle boys," Albus murmured, more to himself, but Gellert understood him just fine. "She was such a cheerful girl before… before they attacked her."_

" _They attacked her?! Why?" Gellert couldn't believe his ears. Insignificant fools they were, but Gellert could not imagine them being able to hurt a magical child so badly._

" _She so wanted to do magic like Aberforth and I," Albus explained, still very quiet, eyes downcast. "She always asked me to change colors of her dresses for her at random, and one day, she wanted to change the color of our white hibiscus into blue. I told her I couldn't, I was helping mother in the kitchen, and Aberforth was with our father, chopping wood, so she decided to try it herself. If we all were magical, she reasoned, she would be too."_

" _And she did." A horrible feeling entered Gellert's gut._

" _And she did," Albus confirmed. "Three Muggle boys saw her, and tried to make her repeat the trick. She was never the same. Her magic - it turned against her."_

 _Gellert swallowed, trying to calculate this new information into his plans. A new question presented itself as he recalled some of the books written about Salem Witch Trials._ _ **Was Ariana Dumbledore an Obscurus?**_ _He filed the information for later scrutiny, now he needed to reassure Albus. "That's why we have to rule them - Muggles. There should be no more Arianas."_

 _Albus smiled wanly. "There_ _ **will**_ _be no more Arianas," he vowed._

If only he could go back in time and have one proper talk with Albus again! The one thing he missed most of all was that easy relationship he and Albus used to have. He almost felt angry at his old friend: they used to joke it would be Gellert who would go out first, Albus not far behind. Fate was truly a cruel mistress in their case.

The hidden trapdoor underneath the books opened, depositing them right on Garren Grimberger's head. Gellert snickered quietly at the litany of profanities his guard spouted, some of them quite creative. Even the imprisoned Dark Lord was allowed to have fun sometimes, right?

 ***** You absolute bastard, Grindelwald!* Garren shouted from underneath in German. *Did you have to leave those books on the trapdoor?*

*How else would I get them down?* Gellert shouted back, although his shout was considerably weaker. *I'm not allowed to go near the door when it's open!*

*Oh I don't know, _alert me?_ * A plate with food, water and day-old issue of Die Tageszauberei( **1** ) was levitated up, where Gellert caught it, and the door closed with a thud. *If you do that again, jackass, I _will_ let you suffer without food!*

Gellert rolled his eyes and attacked the newspaper first, flattening out the front page, and cursed. Loudly.

 ***The entire Levenheim family slaughtered with Avada Kedavra, wand trace unknown!***

That wretched little _boy_ was here, in Germany! The main reason why Albus never restarted their correspondence after they both calmed down in the wake of their Dresden duel - Lord Voldemort.

Gellert snorted at the thought of the younger Dark Lord. Garren's father and his former guard Erik Grimberger had a friend in the ICW who used to send him _Magic Internationally._ The former Dark Lord would read it after Erik finished and was as impressed by the mad boy's rampage as by Albus' absence in the open combat, which is to say not at all. Granted, Albus had to think about the students under his protection first, but still. He was not impressed.

That boy had no true understanding of the arcane Magic, seeking only power through terror, and from what he'd read, Voldemort went so far beyond usual Darkness, he descended irreversibly into madness. Gellert liked to think he managed to avoid most of the negative effects prolonged usage of Dark Arts left on the user during his time, but even he admitted his decision to face Albus was fueled equally by nostalgia and the intoxicating power of the Dark Arts the Elder Wand so easily performed. If he had been in a more sane state of mind, he might not have challenged his old friend and equal in every way so recklessly, or at least he wouldn't have gone into the battle relying so heavily on the Deathstick's power.

The Elder Wand. Gellert froze. Levenheims were distantly related to Gregorovich. The whole plan unfolded in front of the old man's eyes: after not being able to kill Albus' little protegeé with his own wand and skill, the mad boy decided to hunt down the most powerful wand in the history. If he managed to find Levenheims, he will find Gregorovich sooner or later, and then he'll visit Nurmengard's only prisoner. What should he do? Tell the truth and save his life, only to live it miserably? Lie and die for his daring? If the traditions were observed, the Elder Wand would've been buried together with Albus' body, entombed in his grave.

 _Buried with Albus' body… Albus'_ dead _body…_

Oh. **Oh.** _Albus, you devious little_ _ **arschloch**_ , Gellert realized with an enormous smirk. Even after all those years, when Gellert thought he had Albus figured out, the man managed to surprise him. Gellert laughed out loud. No matter what he said, the mad boy would go to his old friend's grave and desecrate it. But, if he was right…

He would lie when the boy comes asking, no question about that. Even if Albus' gambit didn't pay off completely, he knew all the alternatives, and none of them were in the mad boy's favor.

Irony was truly a wonderful friend: one Dark Lord lying to the other one, trying to protect the secret of his old Light Lord friend. It amused Gellert to no end as he settled, waiting for Voldemort to show up.

 _And maybe, just maybe, Albus would forgive him in the afterlife._

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 ** _Additional A/N: My German's rusty, so forgive me for any mistakes with Die Tageszauberei (Magic Daily)!_**


End file.
